Pubslush Is Like Kickstarter for Authors

Why It's Working: Traditional publishing has a lot of overhead costs and bureaucracy that make it hard for potentially popular books to get published; with it's pledging model, Pubslush guarantees an audience before putting ink to paper. Plus, one book is donated for each one that's purchased.

Too often, good manuscripts end up in the slush pile — in fact, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter was slushed by 12 publishers when she first shopped it around. To help talented authors overcome the challenges of the traditional publishing model, Jesse Potash founded Pubslush.

Potash describes it as "the publishing lovechild of American Idol and TOMS Shoes" — it's a social publishing platform for aspiring novelists. Authors — with or without agents — can upload a 10-page excerpt, a summary and a "pitch." Users can then "support" a book, and once it has 1,000 supporters, Pubslush will publish the book. For each book sold, one book is donated to one of the 100 million kids worldwide who don't have access to books.

The point of Pubslush isn't to publish all the slush, but to publish what people are interesting in reading and what may have been shunned by the gatekeepers at prominent bookstores.

"No one cares what the Barnes & Noble book buyer thinks," say Potash. "Social media has opened up this new platform for everyone in the industry."

Not only does Potash's startup reimagine the talent discovery process, but it also puts more revenue in the author's pocket. With less overhead than a traditional publisher, Pubslush has the flexibility to offer higher royalties to writers, making it a more appealing avenue for publishing.

Potash's long term vision is for Pubslush to be a "global book club with a cause." Check out our interview with him above, and tell us if you'd "support" works on Pubslush.

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